Globe calls out Scott Brown on his misleading use of a Globe story in his asbestos ad

As has been noted here time and again, Scott Brown is simply lying when it comes to Elizabeth Warren’s advocacy on behalf of victims of asbestos poisoning. Here’s yet another ad on the subject, this one even more brazen and full of lies than the last two. And a big part of Brown’s lie is his profoundly misleading use of the Boston Globe’s solid reporting on what happened in that very complicated litigation.

Apparently, the Globe has finally had enough. So today, they called him on it. This piece is in the news section, not the editorial page.

Brown ad misleadingly cites Globe story

Senator Scott Brown is running a television ad that misleadingly cites a Boston Globe story to argue that his Democratic opponent, Elizabeth Warren, fought asbestos victims in a major lawsuit.

While there were victims who opposed Warren’s arguments, the story reported that the attorneys who represented most of the victims were on Warren’s side in the case, which went to the Supreme Court.

The Brown campaign did not respond to a request for comment….

[D]espite Brown’s contention that Warren fought victims, the Globe reported that the attorneys who were represented most of the victims supported Warren’s efforts to grant Travelers immunity from asbestos-related lawsuits in exchange for the company setting up a $500 million trust, to be divided among current and future claimants.

A campaign that thinks it can’t win on real issues, and thinks it can’t win without lying about its opponent, is a campaign that thinks it’s losing. So it’s pretty clear where Team Brown thinks it is right now.

This campaign has got nothing left. I suppose they could call in Rove & Co. and carpet bomb us with ads, but even that won’t make a difference.

And seemingly they never believed that Brown’s record would be sufficient to win – ie., sufficient to compare and contrast against Warren. So they had to way, way overplay their hand on Cherokee stuff.

When you’re reduced to pathetic, irrelevant attacks — and lies — that’s a tell. And he’s going to get outspent now, too.

The Globe went easy on him in that quote. While most victims were happy with what she was doing, I’m sure there were some not, but the whole point is Scott Brown is lying — LYING — when he says she was fighting to help Travellers at the cost of the victims.

That is a big, fat, whopper of a lie, the likes of which I’ve never seen before in a political ad. It’s the absolute reverse of what she did, which was to work hard to create a lasting pool of money to help victims, one that would last into the future for any new victims.

It was a brilliant idea, which is why most of the victims supported it, and she fought for it all the way to the Supreme Court. It was not her fault that after she won her bit and did her job, then left the case, a lower court then undid what she did. I’m sure Elizabeth Warren is as angry as any other over what happened, undoing her own work, but the point is Scott Brown is wholesale lying in trying to suggest Elizabeth Warren somehow plotted to work with Travellers against the victims.

based on how average people don’t understand how insurance co’s work. Often, one insurance co is fighting another one on responsibility and amounts of payouts…when you hire an insurance co (even just auto) they are OFTEN in court fighting on your behalf to get the OTHER party to be responsible…their incentives are that they don’t want to have to be the one who winds up paying for your accident when someone else was at fault, but the end result is that you and they are on the same side.

This case is even more complex than that, but to portray an insurance co as automatically pitted against victims is so bullshit.

That is a big, fat, whopper of a lie, the likes of which I’ve never seen before in a political ad. It’s the absolute reverse of what she did, which was to work hard to create a lasting pool of money to help victims, one that would last into the future for any new victims.

… His J.D. notwithstanding, Scott Brown has done precious little to demonstrate to me that he actually understands the issue: that is to say and, to be sure, more’s the pity… he may actually NOT be lying but wholly believes his version of events to be the case.

Consider: he thinks in stereotypes, as all racists and sexists do, and he trades in utterly simpleminded cliches like the truck and the constant appeal to ‘union guys’…

but not for honesty. He may or may not get all the nuances of the case, but I think he knows enough to know he’s using the issue dishonestly. To know his assertions against Warren are wrong, he (or his advisers) would only have to be able to read a Globe article. I’m sure they can handle that.

It’s cynical and despicable. He’s counting on swing voters not being willing to sort it out for themselves. I’m sure he’s also hoping he can cause Warren to waste her funds running counter-ads to rebut the attack. Any attention drawn away from the issues is a good thing in Scott Brown’s mind, and many voters these days fall into a “pox on both their houses” mindset when the campaigns have dueling ads on an issue like this one.

It’s a Swift Boat tactic. Take the opponent’s greatest strength and cast doubt on it. The Warren campaign ignores the attack at their peril, but if they respond in defense the conversation becomes about your attack instead of the issues. How many ads, from both sides, have we seen in the past month about this issue and the Native American issue?

You have to remember that this joint-effort is not just about spousal obligation (it is a huge part), but Gail Huff likes being a Senators wife too. While they could certainly stay in Washington if he loses, this has probably been a thrill for them and not, as the Browns would have us believe, because he’s for us.